This week marked the launch of Jasmine – your real learning platform!

We are constantly looking at ways to improve the way in which we support teachers, pupils and schools and we always begin with feedback from teachers (the experts!). We’ve listened and reviewed our programmes and the outcome was to commence with simplifying the real PE Lesson Plans along with their supporting resources. Feedback suggests that schools love the Create approach as it matches their values and vision, but what we now know is that the Lesson Plans weren’t as easy to follow as they could have been. The solution…

Jasmine simplifies, streamlines and elevates your real experience.

How Jasmine will do this:

Improved teacher, pupil and school experience with clearer remote support.

A teaching and learning aid which pupils can interact and learn with.

Icon led, simple designs make it more intuitive and easy to navigate.

Videos integrated into Lesson Plans for easy access and reference.

Works on multiple devices (including iPads and tablets) with multiple logins to help bring lessons to life.

New, fun and creative imagery for Key Stage 2 activities.

Streamlines USBs, DVD videos, assessment, impact and other supporting resources into one place, removing the need to access 3 different mediums.

Continuous improvements and developments accessible in real time (at NO additional cost).

A market leading, unique solution to support a beautiful whole child philosophy that aligns with your school values.

What do schools think about Jasmine?

Exploration on a real PE Whole School Inset

New real PE schoolsNew real PE schools will receive access to real PE on Jasmine as part of the programme (in addition to training and resources).

Olympic and World Champion Rower, Mark Hunter MBE, has committed to raising awareness of the importance of family play by becoming a real play Ambassador.

After finding out about real play – a programme designed by education specialists Create Development to support families to play and learn together – Mark became a proactive advocate for the scheme.

With almost a third of UK children overweight or obese, the Government introduced their “Plan for Action” for eliminating childhood obesity. It’s suggested that children should take part in 60 minutes of physical activity a day with 30 minutes at school and 30 minutes at home. real play gives families the tools and advice to be active in the evenings and at weekends in a fun way, helping them develop a positive relationship with physical activity.

Mark explained: “Parents really do struggle to find fun ways to keep their children active and engaged, so I wanted to be part of the solution for them. We’re essentially ensuring these 60 minutes of activity out of school are achieved. Schools have tips and resources to keep kids active in a club and they’ll teach the parents how to do the same at home.”

Having experienced it first-hand, Mark believes educating and supporting the family unit plays a major role in not only developing children’s personal, social and emotional skills but also changing families’ attitudes towards physical activity.

He said: “This is such a great opportunity to make a difference and be part of a movement to change the lives of more and more families and change how they see physical activity. real play is such a unique way to engage and support families who just need a little help – the potential outcomes are huge.”

Mark will continue to endorse real play across the country by encouraging schools to get involved and support families through the power of play.

Organisations can sponsor a real play club in their community – contact info@createdevelopment.co.uk for more information or schools and parents can find out more by clicking here

Yesterday we were honoured to be part of the Coach Core graduation event at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Stadium. 150 apprentices from 7 UK cities joined The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Create Development, VIPs and other partners to celebrate their graduation.

Coach Core is a programme run by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry and was established in 2012. It is an apprenticeship programme improving the availability and quality of sports coaching, whilst creating much needed employment for young people. Coach Core increases confidence and enables the young people to have more belief in their ability to achieve in the future.

As Coach Core’s education partner, Create have worked with Coach Core since the start of their journey in 2012. We provide practical and engaging modules, resources and delivery to ensure that coaching is progressive, fun and centred on the learner.

The apprentice graduation ceremony commenced with a feature on BBC Breakfast television with Gary Laybourne, Project Manager for Coach Core and Mark Hunter, MBE, an Olympic gold and silver medallist who is a Coach Core Ambassador.

The day included a really interesting question and answer session with a panel of VIPs: Will Greenwood, Judy Murray, Max Whitlock, MBE, Scott Hann, MBE and Mark Hunter, MBE who reinforced the 5 core principles we focus on in the Coach Core modules in order to develop the ‘future coach’. Will Greenwood highlighted the importance of understanding the individual “…not square pegs in round holes.” Judy Murray echoed one of our modules ‘The power of language’ : “It’s about how you change your language, and interact with your athletes.”

In the afternoon, Create’s Director of Innovation, John Parsons, ran a practical session with Coach Core apprentices and with assistance from VIPs Slaven Bilic, West Ham United Football Club Manager and West Ham United Footballers, Mark Noble and Javier Hernandez.

At the same time Create’s real gym Lead and Head Coach for the Team GB Rhythmic Gymnastics group at the 2012 London Olympics, Sarah Moon, ran a gymnastics session. Sarah’s VIPs included gymnast Max Whitlock who is double Olympic Champion, double World Champion, Commonwealth and European Champion and also Scott Hann, gymnastics Coach to Max, Reiss Beckford, Jay Thompson, Brinn Beven.

We really enjoyed running the practical sessions to show the importance of a child-centred approach. The focus on development of skills (personal, social, emotional etc) allows children to succeed in PE, sport and life and to build a positive relationship with physical activity. This focus is an essential element for a coach to be able to fully support and develop children and young people.

View the speech that Prince Harry’s gave at the graduation by clicking here.

We’d like to say a HUGE congratulations to all the apprentices that graduated yesterday. We also wanted to thank all at Coach Core for organising such a great event. We are proud to be part of supporting young people to become exceptional coaches that are able to support children in their communities. We enjoyed celebrating with you all.

Coach Core’s next set of apprenticeshipsCoach Core is currently recruiting their next set of apprentices, with new programmes starting in Bristol, Devon and Middlesbrough. If you’re between 16 – 24 years old and are interested in an amazing, 12-month paid apprenticeship, click here to find our more. Act now as the apprenticeship starts Nov/Dec this year!

The Coach Core programme offers a range of qualifications, along with its unique combination of learning through employment and the classroom, supported by high-quality mentoring. The focus is on ensuring trainees progress rapidly and have the skills to operate in a professional capacity in whichever career path they choose.

September has always been one of the most exciting times of the year for real PE and this year has been no exception. We delivered real PE Whole School Insets to 87 schools across the country during the month (70 of these in the first four days of term) across 31 counties working with over 1500 delegates. October and November was just as exciting with 41 real PE Create Learning Communities taking place. A huge thanks to everyone who attended and inspired us. We have loved hearing your feedback.

Another dimension
We’re also receiving fantastic feedback for the Create Review Dice, which teachers are utilising both in and out of the classroom. These dice are based on the six Multi-ability cogs, with two additional dice to support deeper learning. They encourage dynamic and creative work within PE, while supporting pupils to self and peer review their learning.

They are proving to be very popular and not only in PE lessons, as they can also be transferred to support other areas of the curriculum, providing an invaluable resource to get cogs turning and minds rolling!

Schools have been sharing how they are using them in many other areas including

Use alongside real PE review methods such as Time Shares and Reverse Time Shares to encourage all children to engage in review of learning.

Pupil led, collaborative review of learning and progress in all curriculum areas.

Pupil led review of learning behaviours and problem solving processes.

To deepen children’s repertoire for asking critical questions that help both themselves and others articulate reflections around their own learning and progress.

Create Development were delighted to attend the Coach Core National roll out Celebration, hosted at Lords Cricket Stadium and attended by Prince Harry on behalf of The Royal Foundation. The event was to celebrate the expansion of the Coach Core coaching apprenticeship programme. Having launched its first pilot in London in 2012, the scheme now works with 42 partners across the UK and is on target to reach 100 by Spring 2017. At Lords, Prince Harry had the opportunity to meet apprentices and coaches and to try out some of their coaching exercises. As part of the day, John Parsons and Nathalie Fitzgerald, delivered practical showcase sessions with the London and Essex apprentices to bring the Coach Core and real Coaching philosophy to life for the guests.

This fantastic scheme aims to take young people from challenging communities and provide unparalleled education and employment opportunities through a 12 month, paid sports coaching apprenticeship. Through this, we are able to train our future sports coaches with a number of high level, recognisable and exciting qualifications and training opportunities so that apprentices leave with an exceptional resume. The scheme links businesses and organisations through The Royal Foundation’s pioneering consortium model that provide places of employment, and 98% of graduates go on to full time education or employment. Almost 100 apprentices have now trained with the scheme’s pilot sites.

The ten core modules of the Coach Core programme, developed by Create Development, form the central strand of Coach Core and develop the child first and foremost so that they have a positive relationship with sport and physical activity. We’re supporting the delivery of Tutor training to assist consortiums in cities and areas across the country, including London, Nottinghamshire, Essex and Manchester.

See below to watch Prince Harry speak at the event and click here to view The Royal Foundation’s article on the day.

We’re excited to be a part of the West Berkshire Primary School Conference.

Venue: Pincents Manor, Pincents Lane, Calcot, Reading RG31 4UQ

Date: Friday23rd September, 9:30am – 3:30pm

As part of the conference, we’ll be delivering a practical workshop where we’ll be showcasing Create Development’s courses, including real PE, realgym and Family FUNS, and demonstrating how we’re creating positive relationships with physical activity for life. We’re looking forward to meeting everyone attending for what’s sure to be a fantastic day.

For more information, please contact Maxine Cooke at mc@createdevelopment.co.uk

The daughter of a gardener, I spent my life learning how to cultivate. Understanding the delicate balance of an organic environment that grows at its own pace, affected by the elements and many other factors out of our control. This is an art! It requires a huge variety of skills, understanding when to gently persuade, when to intervene and when to leave well alone!

No surprise then, that as an adult I seem to have gravitated towards nurturing and growing. I’m now on my third house and garden renovation. And now, I’ve met my match. Meet my new nemesis; the garden at Number 68.

So, skip back to autumn 2015. I had watched the garden blossom throughout the summer, with ample fruits from 7 apple trees and 2 pear trees. The trees from the woods surrounding the house full with luscious green leaves. As the cooler days of autumn set in, my new garden began to look confused, overgrown and unbalanced. The initial amazement of the abundant fruits, began to turn into questions about why so many of the apples were so small. With leaves falling everywhere, covering the overgrown mass of greenery, I started to realise that this little bit of nature of mine was not as healthy as I’d first thought. It was definitely blooming, but not reaching its full potential.

My challenge was recognising what I needed to do, and when and how to do it, in order to get my London haven back to beautiful. This was not as straightforward as might be expected, with out of control fruit trees, asbestos and ground full of clay. I began to expect the unexpected. YouTube and Google have become my new best friends.

Systematically over the winter, I have pruned, cleared, chopped, and lopped; giving each small piece of the garden its own individual lease of life. Individual being the operative word here, as almost each shrub, tree, plant and element of the garden needed its own plan of action. Having never pruned a fruit tree before and being warned “cut too much and you’ll kill it”, figuring out what was required was by and large trial and error and a leap of faith, trusting that nature would be kind to my decisions.

This whole process is something I recognise across the teaching profession. Schools are full of people who are nurturers and growers, selfless givers who spend their days ensuring that children in their care reach their full potential, and develop a love for learning. But as teachers, when do we take the time to nurture and grow ourselves? In the hours I have spent in the garden, I have pondered the links between my gardening experiences and Learning Nutrition.

For those of you who are real PE practitioners, you may or may not be familiar with Learning Nutrition. It features in your Introduction Booklets and forms part of the real PE Day 4 for Subject Leaders. Learning Nutrition is exactly what I’ve been doing in the garden for the past year. Developing and nurturing, to bring about the best possible outcome for me as a gardener and everything in my care. The only difference is that Learning Nutrition, with its simple and gradual steps, allows teachers to become successful learners at their own pace; using a simple and elegant 5 stage guide. If only the same thing existed for gardening – Alan Titchmarsh, I hope you’re reading!

Learning Nutrition helps practitioners build their confidence in the ‘how’ of teaching PE, rather than the ‘what’ we teach. Shaping understanding, behaviours, language and practice; giving teachers control over their own development, and choice of where to focus their learning. The result of using Learning Nutrition is teachers who are motivated to continuously develop good teaching habits; and learners who take responsibility for their learning, understand where they are and their next steps in their journey, a culture of excellence and very happy classrooms which flourish and grow.

Leaping into the first full summer at Number 68, I’m beginning to see the fruits of my labour and decisions. The garden is definitely less cluttered and everything that survived the garden cull looking far healthier than it did going into the winter. I’ve handed the reins back over to nature. I am carefully listening to the responses, which will help me decide the right plan of action for the year ahead, along with a little help from friendly experts I’ve chatted to along the way. I’m pretty sure I’ve made some mistakes, one or two more obvious than others; I can safely say I will only be getting fruit from 5 apple trees this year, but fingers crossed they’ll be bigger, sweeter and tastier than before.

Read the latest post on our blog from Director of Innovation for PE and Sport, John Parsons, ‘The 3 Hurdles of Alignment – Part 2’:

“So, the final hurdle is aligning what we do as well as what we say, which is not easy to do consistently as it’s easy to fall back into old habits. This is about really being deliberate and thoughtful in our planning and delivery to ensure we align our teaching methods to provide the right environment to enable children to develop these skills. I’m yet to have a teacher or coach on a course who tells me they don’t really value these broader skills and abilities; the acid test for all of us is whether we walk the talk.”

Cwmbran High School in Gwent, Wales has enjoyed some time in the spotlight following an exciting visit to their Summer School programme from ITV News. The segment focused in on the way that the Summer School programme, delivered by a team led by Andy Honey-Jones and developed by Create Development, has been helping Year 6 pupils to transition to secondary school by using physical activity to develop their key learning skills.

Pupils and teachers alike were interviewed on their experience throughout the week, where it had become clear that the programme’s focus of overcoming challenges had become an excellent opportunity for pupils to make friends and get to know the school. They had also been inspired by a visit from GB Duathlete and Create’s Family FUNS National Lead, Phil Wylie. As a result, the shy Year 6s that had begun the programme were now confident and working together, well aware of friendly faces to look out for when they arrive. The Summer School has also been of immense benefit to the Year 11s that have been Student Mentors for the programme, giving them the opportunity to enhance their leadership abilities and draw from personal experience. We’re pleased to see that this Summer School is clearly creating a positive impact on all involved and ensuring that the Year 6s have a strong relationship with learning when September comes around.

You can watch the interview below.

Contact us at info@createdevelopment.co.uk to find out more about Summer Schools in 2017.

Gaskell Community Primary School in Bolton recently reached the end of its third Family FUNS programme, which they have now delivered to 22 families in total. To celebrate, the school held a reunion, in which these families came back together to play some of the Family FUNS games and activities and delight in Gaskell’s achievement.

When re-visiting some of the families that had been on a Family FUNS programme, the worry that play might have slowed down or fun forgotten was proven completely unfounded. Families gushed about the fantastic time they’d had using the home packs and proudly announced how much they had kept using them. One boy had even read and acted out ‘Journey to the Blue Planet’ (one of the story books used as part of the home packs) that very morning, using it as a great motivator to get him ready for his day at school!

Most importantly, the impact of Family FUNS was seen in the way the attitudes of parents and children alike had changed, something that was emulated in the language heard. Phrases such as “I was brave when…” and “I challenged myself by…” were buzzing around the room, as all proved that they were now truly on Bravery Island, and that Family FUNS had redefined what’s possible for these families.

What the Family FUNS parents and children at Gaskell had to say:

“Exerciting” – a mixture of exciting and exercise!!

‘[It’s been a] great way to bond with my children.’

“It has helped to build my child’s character making them stronger and brave.”

“Helps builds my confidence with the school and with other parents.”

“I have more friends in the playground.”

“Loads of ideas to play with my kids.”

Congratulations to Gaskell on their success! To read about it further and see Aiden’s case study, click here to view their impact report.

real PE continues to grow over the past academic year, with many more practitioners taking on the challenge to create positive early relationships with physical activity for life. Over the last academic year, we’ve seen 5,462 practitioners trained in real PE, with 78 Create Learning Communities and 305 Whole Schools involved overall.

We’ve had a fantastic year in real PE, and a huge thanks to everyone who’s joined us and to all who have continued to work with us to redefine what’s possible. We look forward to hearing your stories and the impact real PE has had in the coming academic year.

The number of practitioners trained in real gym also continues to grow with over 600 practitioners now trained to deliver high quality gymnastics in schools and create rounded learners. The impact of real gym on children can be viewed in this great case study by North Town Primary School in Taunton. Click here to view.

We’re looking forward to enabling even more children to stretch themselves in the new academic year!

The new Create Review and real gym Dice have now arrived and not only look amazing, but are going down a storm with the first schools to receive them!

Create Review Dice
To add to practitioners’ creative and colourful set of resources, we’ve created the new Create Review Dice. The dice are colour coded, tactile and durable, and encourage dynamic and creative work within PE, as well as support pupils to self and peer review their learning.

The new set of Create Review Dice is based on the six multi-ability cogs, with two additional dice for a deeper review of learning. From rolling the dice, the child or teacher supporting them receives a question that can be used to evaluate what they’ve learned from the activity undertaken and see how their skills can be better developed. Not only can these dice be used to complement real PE, they can also be transferred to support other areas of the curriculum, providing an invaluable resource to get cogs turning and minds rolling!

The dice can be purchased on the Create shop for £16 plus VAT for a set of 8 and £49 plus VAT for 4 sets.

Click hereto purchase yours. Schools that are already using the dice have told us that the children were really excited using them and found them to be a really useful resource.

real gym DiceThis brand new set of real gym Dice aid the teaching of the real gym scheme of work. These dice work with the Dice Matrix Poster and show all the unique symbols for easy use. By exploring different choreographic techniques, children can develop their skills in increasing challenging situations, as well as extend sequence development.

Reception teacher and Senior Management Team member, Flo Head, from Abington Vale Primary School shared her thoughts:“I have found them useful using them alongside numbered dice which really challenges them to create multiple moves i.e. 4 star shapes/3 tuck shapes etc – then you can see if children have grasped the concepts of each shape.

The children lead the session as the ownership is shifted to them as they are the ones rolling the dice and following the simple instructions and drawings. We have only just started using them but I have been very impressed with how the learning culture has shifted as well as how easy they are to use on their own or with numbered dice.

I am looking forward to using them alongside equipment to again enhance the sessions and the flexibility and range of choice!”

Hear what the children at Abington Vale Primary School are saying about the dice in these video clips by clicking here and here.

Like the CreateReview Dice, the real gym Dice be purchased on the Create shop for the same price. Click here to purchase yours.

In partnership with London Youth Games, GamesForceGo! real leaders has had a great start with pilots in London and with Slough SSP. The nature of the programme marks a unique approach to leadership in the primary setting, with whole school leadership being the focus. GamesForceGo! real leaders enables schools to deliver leadership programmes in school that support the development of leadership fundamentals, through simple and clear learning journeys.

Using some of the incredible activities from real PE, learning and development of leadership Fundamentals is brought to life in a fun and engaging way. GamesForceGo! real leaders provides children with opportunities to develop character and their skills for employment alongside genuine volunteering and leadership experience. It supports schools to embed junior leadership teams across the whole school, maximising the impact on our next generation of leaders.

Feedback from schools so far has been overwhelmingly positive and one teacher said:

“Leadership needs to be re-positioned at the forefront for our school, in fact a lot of schools. I can see the impact this programme will make in school, and how much it could do for the children who really need it most.”A 9 year old leader said:“No matter how much we might disagree, we can work it out, we are a team.”

For more information on GamesForceGo! real leaders please contact us at info@createdevelopment.co.uk or call 020 8863 0304.

Create Tutor, Lindsy James proved herself to be both a world-class athlete and mum as she broke the Guinness World Record for being the fastest woman pushing a pram and baby over a half marathon!

Having trained six days a week since January, covering over 1000 miles in that time, Lindsy pushed a pram, weighing 10.5kg, and her son Archie, weighing 10kg, over 13 miles at this year’s Derby Ramathon. With crowds roaring as she ran into the iPro Stadium, Lindsy and Archie smashed the record by more than three minutes.

Lindsy chose to attempt to break the record in memory of her mother, who sadly passed away in April last year. In doing so, Lindsy expects to have raised a grand total of £4000 for Macmillan Cancer Support and the Rotherham Hospice that cared for her mother in her final days. Reflecting on the experience, Lindsy said:

“The miracle isn’t that we finished, it’s that we had the courage to start… The memory of that day will last a lifetime and will remain as one of the best days of our lives.”

We’re overwhelmingly proud of Lindsy for redefining what’s possible and proving what can be done when you choose to take a leap into the unknown! If you would like to express your support for Lindsy and her amazing causes, her fundraising page is still open. Click here to donate.

A window into the marital bliss and routine of Mr and Mrs O’Brien might, at first, appear unsuitable content for such a blog but allow me the benefit of the doubt. Picture the scene… A Saturday night meal in for two, Mrs O’Brien having shopped and cooked with love and attention, myself in best bib and tucker (not to mention new trainers).

A blissful evening took an unexpected turn as Mrs O’Brien’s attention unfathomably shifted from yours truly. Not just her attention but her emotion too – I lost her to a happier place. My rival for her attention? A classical piece of music (get us), chosen by my date that signified no more to me than her having a more refined taste in music than partners.

But what was it about this piece that swept her away? I felt compelled to know what mystical significance the ebb and flow of the music held for her. ‘Peter and the Wolf’, she told me, takes her back to her childhood home. Back to her childhood lounge, her dad’s hi-fi, vinyl and the last time beards were trendy. Peter and the Wolf playing loudly, dad and his girls taking on differing roles, each instrument a different animal, each animal a different movement. A family having fun was the vision she painted. Pre-Family FUNS, but still a family playing physically, bonding – forming relationships with physical activity for life.

The account was vivid, powerful, emotional and moving. Most powerful in the account however was the role that dad played, how his abandon and immersion in the play infected his daughter(s) to the extent that some 40 years later the tune could take Mrs O’B vividly back to her childhood lounge and her childhood self.

My father-in-law dared to play, to give his daughter’s permission to have fun being physical. It’s simply too reductive to imply this a major reason that Mrs O’Brien played rugby at school, went on to study PE, ended up with a sports mad partner and had two sports loving kids – isn’t it? Reductive or not, it got me thinking about the power of role models.

My role models, three volunteers at a community sports club, variously cared for me, took me places and set differing examples of what it is to be a leader. Some were quiet and inspired by example, others charismatic and they inspired by magnetism. They made it possible to imagine a lifelong love of participating in a community of sport.

I have a theory that all of us in the sport and PE industry have a role model story to tell. I indulge myself regularly by asking people to tell me their role model story. I really love to hear those stories – I consider it a privilege. I hear of teachers, parents, community coaches and celebrity sports people – how they all play their part.

I close however thinking of what kind of a role model I am. I suspect in many ways a good deal of our legacy is invested in this question; do I show what is needed to motivate, inspire and energise the next generation to dance to Peter and the Wolf?

This blog is Part 3 of 3 of my self-exploration of how my personal experiences have contributed to my thoughts, beliefs, passions and philosophy about PE and school sport – if you’ve missed my earlier entries, click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

I suppose it’s not surprising that when I had kids pretty late in life that they should grow up on a diet of play, play, play. It was certainly worth holding out to have kids with literally the “best dad ever”.

I had hit that ‘clock ticking’ time in my life and if my past partners were anything to go by, I hadn’t met anyone who I wanted to have kids with. So, I opened a “baby account” and put it out there (the hippy in me speaking again)!

When I finally (and I mean finally) had kids with my present partner, Pete, we were both completely ready and we just had more little people around to play with.

Before Natty, my first child, could walk he could play balloon tennis, had been sandwiched up in carpets and whipped out along the floor at a high speed. He thought he could fly since he had been thrown skyward so many times and nappy change involved being bounced high up in the air on the bed.

We hadn’t at this point worked out that we were laying down foundations for him to become an elite sportsman, but by the time he was three, he had physical confidence and control coupled with a hunger and fearlessness. In some ways this was exaggerated even more for my second child whom had an even more cutthroat physical initiation with input from her three year old brother – which at times was pretty hairy.

Our decision as a family to take six months out to go traveling meant that we upped the ante and surfed, swam, ran, played, skateboarded and did a lot or sword fighting 24/7. The children were two and five years old.

I remember a conversation with Nat’s reception teacher who was concerned that he would “fall behind” with his schoolwork. There have been many times in my life when I have believed the lunatics had taken over the asylum and that was one of them!

My kids experienced seven different cultures; they played with different children, but most importantly they were taken out of their comfort zone and routine and were faced with new challenges every day. They built incredible coping strategies for how to join a group of kids playing. They made up their own games and Nat especially learned the importance of keeping going till the skill was cracked, conquering surfing in Hawaii aged five after hours of falling off.

Return to the normal world was bizarre and sometimes painful but instead of “falling behind” they both had gained the skills and abilities that create independent, resourceful and resilient children and needless to say Nat “caught up” on his schoolwork. Again, as with so many of the philosophies of Create, the name “Multi Abilities” only became familiar to me at a later time.

Six months non-stop swimming and sword fighting round the world had also created two children with exceptional physical skills and they both played for countless teams in countless sports – this part of our life was equally wonderful and excruciating. My children had the privilege of being coached by some incredible coaches. (It’s no surprise that one of the best coaches I came across now works as a Regional Manager for Create!)

It is difficult to be critical of a voluntary coach, especially when they are giving up their time to work with my child, but I have witnessed my own and other children literally have the joy and stuffing knocked out of them for short term, ‘perceived team benefits’. This was accentuated when dealing with paid, professional coaches who often seemed to be short sighted and completely lacking in empathy.

The expectations of parents to support their children on sporting pathways just seem to replicate traditional Physical Education. It’s only for the chosen few. If you have disposable income, a spare parent to drive you up to three hours for a game and a degree in detective work – your child can follow the sporting pathway.

There seemed to be, in lots of sporting clubs and county squads, a complete lack of kindness and empathy for how children felt and a complete lack of transparency. Simply, the sport and winning were at the heart and not the individual children.

However excruciating, sport was still an amazing vehicle to orientate my kids through the difficult teens. It got them off the couch, away from screens and away from the other teenage temptations that sadly some of their friends have succumbed to. It has given both Pete and I an incredibly powerful tool to communicate with our children and the hours driving both of them to training and games were some of the loveliest and in-depth conversations. Something to do with them being strapped in.

Every time I play cricket in the kitchen with my 6”3’ son or climb over the fence to kick a rugby ball on the local field I want to bottle it and I treasure these hours and hours as they draw to a close. I am saddened by family houses that are more concerned with replicating an Ikea showroom than providing a playful environment for their children. If only they knew what they were missing out on.

So, we seem to be hitting a time in history when playing with your kids is becoming less and less common, diminishing day by day. Pete and I often drive out to Hale to walk the dog and we pass miles of green spaces in front of a Speke housing estate and we don’t see children playing out. Children are least active at evenings and weekends and have unlimited access to sedentary games and disgusting food.

But the solution is not as straightforward as it was for the traditional PE curriculum that just wasn’t fit for purpose for the majority of teachers or children.

EVERY parent has the chance to play with their kids, whether its hide and seek in the house, off the ground tig in the playground or skipping on the pavement. We seem to be experiencing a “perfect storm” where a whole host of factors have come together to produce a generation of families that no longer want to or seem the need to play together.

When I interviewed a mum following her attendance at a Family FUNS club she simply said, “I didn’t know you had to play with your kids. Now I do its easy”.

Due to many schools being unaware of the campaign, we are pleased to announce that the Spring Spotlight offer has been extended to 19th June 2016! All real PE practitioners will be able to benefit from purchasing the new real PE packs at a crazy price of £95 plus VAT per pack.

The real PE resources have been enhanced to ensure a deeper understanding of the approach to fully embed into schools, as well as making them much simpler and easier to use. These resources in their beautifully packaging are much simpler to use. The children can now also meet the new Create characters who make the resources both fun and engaging for pupils!

To add to your creative and colourful set of resources, we’ve developed NEW sets of dice for the real PE and real gym programmes! Each is colour coded, tactile and durable, and will encourage dynamic and creative work within their respective programmes, as well as supporting pupils to self and peer review their learning.

The new set of 8 real PE dice is based on the six multi-ability cogs, with two additional dice for a deeper review of learning. Not only can these dice be used to complement real PE, they can also be transferred to support other areas of the curriculum, giving you an invaluable resource to get cogs turning and minds rolling!

The new set of 8 real gym dice is for use with the activities in the real gym programme, with the real gym activities indicating when they can be enhanced by their use. The dice work with the Dice Matrix Poster and show all the unique symbols. By exploring different choreographic techniques, children can develop their skills in increasingly challenging situations, as well as extend sequence development.

Enabling all children to develop leadership fundamentals to reach their full potential

Create Development is working in partnership with the London Youth Games to develop the exciting new duel branded programme GamesForceGo! real leaders. This is a new volunteering and leadership award centered around primary school children in Year 5 and 6. The programme aims to transform junior leadership and character development across whole primary schools, driving pupil voice and whole school development through the power of competitive sport. Healthy and appropriate competitive sporting events will be used to engage and enthuse primary pupils in leadership, thereby developing skills that they will carry with them for life.

Why?Currently, primary schools in London are unable to develop these key abilities in pupils; the capacity and skills to deliver intra school competition, quality opportunities to engage primary pupils in leadership and an understanding of healthy, appropriate competition are all missing. GamesForceGo! real leaders aims to ensure that young leaders are equipped to deliver competitive opportunities to their peers, with more Year 5 and 6 Londoners achieving their full potential through leadership and competitive sport. Pupils will receive the best opportunities to develop their skillsets through the best leadership programme and resources available, with teachers then equipped to take it across the whole school.

GamesForceGO! real leaders:

supports both teachers and pupils in Year 5 and 6 to understand what great leadership looks, sounds and feels like.

gives teachers the tools to support the development of leadership fundamentals in pupils.

provides pupils with opportunities to lead and deliver small events and competitions.

empowers teachers and pupils to deliver high quality, healthy competition through a focus on Personal Best.

provides a template programme, resources and a menu of ideas to include, challenge and support young leaders in and through appropriate roles.

Thank you to everyone who entered the real gym competition and sent their fantastic photos, videos and quotes of children enjoying their gymnastics lessons.

It was a tough decision and after lots of deliberating, we can now announce the name of the winner who will receive a place on a real gym course…

Congratulations to Sarah Herbert from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Catholic Primary Academy in Nottingham! Sarah tried the sample Lesson Plan with a Year 3 and 5 class and Sarah and the children loved it! See below her summary of the real gym lesson along with photos.

“At the end of the lesson they reflected on what they found difficult and all agreed it was having to move under pressure that was tricky. They all also understood how this would help them in many different sports situations – having to think fast under pressure. I would never have imagined being able to do that in a gymnastics lesson before. So, whilst the quality of the balances did go down their physical literacy skills rose dramatically, as did their creativity. Children were forced to think of balance shapes they had never done before.

I know that, with time and a varied approach to teaching the skills the gymnastics will improve and the children’s enjoyment levels and multi sports advantages will remain high. Children were honest about who had helped them and really did try to coach one another, even though they were rushed through the activity.

It was quite different from the way I have been used to teaching gymnastics. I would love to try out a few more lessons.I love that all moves are offered to all year groups, something I have been doing for years and no other gymnastics resources have ever got right! Differentiation of gym skills is the same in a Year 3 class as it is in a Year 6 class so I’ve never understood why other schemes just suggest log rolls or standing star shapes for a Year 3 class and left the harder moves until Years 5 and 6, by which time the children are too stiff and scared to try new skills. Your approach to this differentiation is just what I’ve been looking for – thank you!”

The runner up was difficult to decide too and we narrowed it down to two who will each receive a set of the exciting NEW real gym Dice. The runners up are:

Chris Palmer at Brookmead SchoolClick here to view the pupils’ great comments about real gym. One of our favourite pupil quotes was: “I don’t like it, I love it because all of the games are fun and it gets you moving.” Elijah

Flo Head at Abington Vale Primary SchoolVisit the school blog and scroll down to the ‘Feedback after our first real gym session’ article for more details including fantastic videos of the pupils talking about their real gym experiences. Click here to find out more.

We’re excited to be part of the Wakefield Primary PE Conference 2016. Come and join us at:

Venue: Cedar Court Hotel, Wakefield

Date: 9am-4pm, 16/05/2016

The conference will focus on ‘Impact, Innovation and Inclusion’. Bringing together National and Local experts on PE and school sport, this event is a must for primary PE practitioners wishing to inspire and improve physical activity opportunities for young people.

You’ll have the opportunity to see Create Development’s Managing Director Ronnie Heath deliver the key note speech on ‘Inclusion’, as well as to see real PE in action in our workshop. We’ll also be on our market stall, giving you the chance to chat with us about how we can work together to innovate the teaching of PE in your school. We’d love to meet you on what’s sure to be a fantastic day.

Yesterday’s real gym National Launch was a great success and teachers, Headteachers and practitioners attending the launch were able to see exactly what real gym looks like and hear how it all started.

Olympic Rhythmic Gymnastics Coach, Sarah Moon has created the real gym programme to transform how gymnastics is taught in primary schools and to give ALL children the opportunity to develop gymnastics skills in a fun, inclusive and holistic way.

The real gym National Launch took place in three venues across the country and was hosted by Lings Primary School, Northampton, Monkton Park Primary School, Chippenham and Woodhill Primary School, London.

At Lings Primary School, Sarah Moon and Olympian Lynne Hutchison shared their personal journeys and spoke passionately about the reasons why all children deserve the opportunity to learn gymnastic activities in primary school. Headteacher, Leigh Wolmarans was proud to show a real gym lesson in action and explain how it’s had a positive impact on pupils and teachers at the school. Leigh said:

“real gym develops every fundamental skill that is needed to enjoy physical learning at school and in life. By making the sessions fun, engaging and interactive they help children of all abilities to be actively involved. The results you see in every area of physical learning are impressive and so worth it!”

We’ve captured the National Launch in photographs below.

We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to all three schools, pupils, teachers and Local Partners who supported this fantastic launch and also all those that attended.

Working in partnership
Create Development works in partnership with Northamptonshire Sport to ensure the high quality delivery of programmes across Northamptonshire. A huge thank you Northamptonshire Sport for supporting the school, Create and the launch today!

Thank you also to Selina Porter, SSCO Sheldon School who also works in partnership with Create to ensure high quality delivery of programmes across Wiltshire, for supporting the school, Create and the launch today.

FREE real gym Lesson Plans!
All schools are invited to download their FREE real gym Lesson Planhere so they too can enjoy gymnastic activities with their pupils!

The official real gym launch is just a few days away: Tuesday 26th April 2016

Find out how you and your pupils can get involved below:

Use the FREE real gym Lesson Plan in one of your PE lessons on the day

We’d like to share a FREEreal gymLesson Plan so that you and your pupils can explore gymnastic activities in your PE lessons and be part of the real gym National Launch. Click here to download your sample real gym Lesson Plan.

Tweet and post photographs of your pupils taking part in gymnastic activities using @Create_Dev (Twitter) @Create_Development (Instagram) and #realgym

Email your feedback and photographs to jb@createdevelopment.co.uk

All photographs and tweets will be entered into a competition to win a place on a real gym course to learn all about the theory and skills required for real gym. This place is worth £225plus VAT and will include all of the resources too. A massive prize, just for sharing your fantastic lesson with us! The competition ends Friday 6th May 2016.

Have fun and enjoy learning gymnastic skills!

Attend one of the real gym National Launch venues

See real gym in action, hear how real gym can transform how gymnastics is taught in primary schools and learn how it gives ALL children the opportunity to develop gymnastics skills in a fun, inclusive and holistic way. Click on a venue below for more details:

We’ve been busy enhancing the real PE resources to ensure a deeper understanding of the approach to fully embed in your school. We’ve also simplified them making them much easier to use. There’s lots of changes and they now look very different to the original resources so we wanted to give all real PE practitioners the opportunity to benefit from them too.

Click here to see what has changed including a sample of the Interactive Lesson Plans.

Spring Spotlight offer!
There’s just under two weeks left for real PE practitioners to receive the NEW, enhanced real PE packs at the very special price of £95 plus VAT. That’s a saving of £30 per pack. Visit the real PE Teacher Portal to view the password to purchase yours on the new Create shop.

We’re proud to announce that Olympian, Lynne Hutchison will be attending the real gym National Launch on Tuesday 26th April at Lings Primary School in Northampton. Lynne is keen to support the real gym programme as school gymnastics really inspired her and had such a positive impact on her life.

Lynne mirrors real gym National Lead and Team GB Rhythmic Gymnastic Coach, Sarah Moon’s belief and passion to inspire children to take part in gymnastics on a larger scale so that every child can experience the fun and benefits of the sport as she did. Lynne was fortunate enough to take part in gymnastics at school where she was discovered and progressed to Olympian at a club.

Lynne’s accolades include:

Competed at Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014 for England – fifth individual in ribbon final

“It was Year 6. It was football. It was everything you expect. 1 boy in the Southampton Saints system, 4 others chomping to play, 3 girls keen to get involved but 22 others not bothered, unmotivated or terrified. It was time to get the Creative Cog spinning!

We discussed creativity in PE as they were changing. We watched a clip of Messi and Suarez’s penalty kicks to get the ideas flowing. The children used all the right language – flair, imagination, outside the box, and we linked these words to the assessment posters to bring the learning to life.”

Well it has been a while! You may remember that my blog begun the journey of my wife Sonia as a real PE teacher in a primary school in Southampton. If you didn’t catch it, click here to read more.

Fraught with the perils of trying to support your spouse (and often doing it badly!) we are pleased to say the journey is going well and is firmly on the right track.

So, last time, we got to a good place where children were engaged, challenged and included in all PE lessons, with Sonia making great use of the supporting resources of real PE, especially the FUNS cards. However, some fundamental learning skills were lacking in the children – listening, taking turns, keeping going when things are tough. Lessons were stalling and Sonia’s frustration was evident (the makers of Prosecco were the winners).

This brought about the Multi-Abilities shift of focus. We discussed the abilities her learners needed to be successful in PE and developed a plan to focus on these in her lessons in an overt way. Three strategies were agreed upon:

1. Get the Multi-Ability assessment posters up and start talking about them in a PE context.

2. Teach these abilities – If you want to get children to share and take turns, make sure you give out fewer pieces of equipment and get them into pairs/small teams!

“Feels a bit strange writing this, but Tim has promised me he won’t tweak it! Shifting to the Multi-Abilities focus has been a journey. Whether it was me trying too hard to teach the games the ‘right’ way or following the Lesson Plans in the early stages, the cogs got lost a bit! However, I needed to make the switch.

It was Year 6. It was football. It was everything you expect. 1 boy in the Southampton Saints system, 4 others chomping to play, 3 girls keen to get involved but 22 others not bothered, unmotivated or terrified. It was time to get the Creative Cog spinning!

We discussed creativity in PE as they were changing. We watched a clip of Messi and Suarez’s penalty kicks to get the ideas flowing. The children used all the right language – flair, imagination, outside the box and we linked these words to the Assessment Posters to bring the learning to life.

The lesson challenge was to get creative with their football skills. For sending and receiving in different ways, I cheated a bit and used ‘All Change’ to start, but I made it football by having the children pass with their feet! FUNS Station 8 provided a skill progression for them and my non-performer (a boy with autism) was giving out the badges of honour (stickers) to those who were showing creativity during the lesson.

The difference it made? 30 children engaged and included. 30 children exploring creativity in a game most do not like. The most able were being challenged for the first time in a football lesson.

I think the cogs are here to stay!”

The thing is, she took it a step further… She started to get children assessing themselves not only in their Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) using FUNS but also the Multi-Abilities. Key Stage 2 children were accessing the posters to chart progress in the ‘cog’!

Working for Create, I never cease to be amazed by the enthusiasm that those around me have for physical activity; quite literally, it is what gets them up in the morning, motivated by the impact that they know it can have and a constant love of being energetic. More often than not, they’re people that have loved physical activity their entire lives, and want to ensure that more young people leave education with this same fantastic relationship. For over a year, I’ve tried to blend in with them, tried to pretend that I too have this life-long love for sport, but now, it’s time I come clean with my co-workers. There’s something I need to confess. I, Molly Heath, hated PE.

I wouldn’t say that my overall experience of PE and Sport was entirely negative; I had some high points, some lessons where I had fun with my friends, I occasionally participated in inter-house sports competitions. Albeit, this was usually because no-one else would, but I stand proudly by my 5th place in the high jump (the person who came 6th didn’t show up). I started secondary school with some enthusiasm for PE too. Sure, I was never considered good at PE in primary school, so didn’t try my hardest, but in light of this, I wanted to be more active now that I was older. I resolved that I was going to go to hockey practice – it was a sport I’d not really tried before, and it looked fun. I had my first in-class lesson, which was difficult, and I struggled slightly, but I wasn’t demoralised. What did put me off was when we were back in the changing rooms and the teacher called out a list of girls’ names to come and speak to her, and I overheard her tell those girls that they were the ones she wanted to come to practice. I never went. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t wanted, that I wasn’t good enough at PE for it to be my ‘thing’.

My enthusiasm for PE lessened the longer I was in school; from that point onwards, I was in a process of ear-marking myself as the girl who wasn’t good at sport, that it wasn’t what I did. I was good at words and books and PE was just an irritating interruption to my day. And my experience only reinforced this. I was sick of being chastised by the overly competitive girls who made me feel like I was doing wrong by them by not being able to hit a rounders ball. I was sick of being told I wasn’t good enough if I did try and put myself forward. I was sick of the annual embarrassment of the ‘Bleep Test’, which was not used as a tool by which we could measure our fitness and motivate ourselves to get better, but was simply a lazy first lesson. Worse, the girls and boys were regularly made to run it in front of each other. In Year 11, my final year, I dropped out at 2.9; I wasn’t going to get hot and sweaty in my third lesson of the day, and at least if I went out pathetically early, it would look as if I didn’t care rather than have to openly admit how unfit I was. When choosing sports to do, I wasn’t encouraged to challenge myself in any way, nor did I want to. I picked what was easiest, what my friends were taking, and would put myself (if I wasn’t already put there by a teacher) in the lowest ability group so that the hour would go as quick as it could.

Leaving PE behind at school was a relief. But two years later, something changed. In the terrifying loom of my approaching A-Levels, I found myself stressed. Looking for a way to deal with this, I decided to join the gym, in the hope that it might reduce my stress or be a way for me to take my mind off what I regarded as my inevitable failure and the end of my life. I was initially apprehensive, in full knowledge that my fitness levels have never been great, and sure that even if I did convince myself to go regularly, it’d be a chore. Yet out of the blue, I loved it. There was something great about being able to go at my own pace, to be able to feel like I had ownership over my progress and to be able to challenge myself. I was also lucky enough to have a friend go to the gym with me. She was much better than I was, but the advantage was that where I failed to push myself, she would encourage me to keep going, rather than make me feel rubbish for it.

The difference that I put this down to? The exercise was for me. It was not to please a teacher, not because I had to be there, not to try and stop some over-competitive girl from shouting at me. Exercise wasn’t a punishment, not a chore, but it was fun, not least because I loved feeling that my body was getting stronger and that my mental well-being was improved too.

Now, I come to the point-making part of my self-indulgent exploration. Why did it take a bout of courage at 18 for me to discover that physical activity was something that I enjoyed and that had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my life? Where were the processes when I was younger that would make me feel included, like PE was a safe and fun place where I could challenge myself? Why was I left to feel as though sport wasn’t ‘for me’?

This is clearly an issue that spans all groups, but it seems as though my experience is particularly pertinent in young girls. The relationships that young women have with their bodies are frequently awful, and a negative relationship with physical activity only enhances this. Younger girls often feel put off by sport at break times, feeling that the running around is just ‘for boys’. At secondary school age, feeling bullied in lessons by the girls who were good at sport has a negative effect on your self-esteem and your willingness to participate. This doesn’t diminish the older you get, as adverts for fitness regimes and wear are filled with the impossible standards that the pressure is constantly on women to reach. The statistics only prove this; in 2012, 70% of adult women said they felt pressure from television and magazines to have a ‘perfect’ body. The ‘This Girl Can’ campaign did fantastic work in addressing this issue; taglines such as ‘sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox’ and ‘I jiggle therefore I am’ reminded us as women that everyone has those insecurities, and that we can use them instead to feel fabulous whilst we get active.

But this should be addressed earlier. Young girls, and indeed boys, should have the opportunity to realise the importance that sport has for their physical and mental wellbeing, viewing keeping active as fun and an opportunity for personal challenge from a young age. Where girls so often not only drop out of physical activity in their teens, but develop issues with body confidence and self-esteem, it is critically important that we create the positive relationships as early as we can. This way, we can ensure that these relationships last for life.

I, Molly Heath, love physical activity. But I should have known this sooner.

I read a book some time back called ‘The Magic Weaving Business’ by Sir John Jones. Essentially it is about the power of teaching and the life-changing influence teachers can have (positively and negatively) on young people. If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend it to anyone involved in education (by this I don’t just mean teachers and schools).

I had many ‘light bulb’ moments when reading the book, but the one that stuck with me most was where Jones discusses the importance and challenge of aligning what you believe and value, with what you say and what you do. It sounds simple, obvious and downright common sense doesn’t it? But it’s often the simplest things that we miss or aren’t as simple as we think and common sense, as the saying often goes, isn’t that common! I frequently look back and think of how often there was a disconnect between what I thought I believed in and my actual practice when working with young people. I suppose this was part of my learning journey but I can’t help thinking that it would have been beneficial for the young people I was working with if this had been something that I’d been more aware of earlier, hence why we explore it on Day 1 of our real PE programme. Jones, to give context to the concept, gives numerous examples of where he has experienced a clear disconnect between what institutions say they believe and value and what they actually say and do in practice. I now find myself continually referring back to this alignment challenge both when visiting schools and in terms of my own practice.

So, the first hurdle, is to be really clear on what we believe and value and communicate this in as simple a way as possible. Sounds easy but many can and do ‘fall at the first’. I once sat in a meeting at a community club where I was told that the club could not have a shared philosophy as there were different managers involved who had their own philosophies. I responded that we are therefore no longer a club, but a collection of autonomous teams and therefore should say as much, otherwise how could parents and children make a decision as to whether the ‘club’ had a philosophy and values that was right for them? Similarly, I’ve worked with some schools who are very clear on their values and beliefs – they are often the first thing you see when you arrive in reception and say all the things you’d want a school to be about – but, perhaps, don’t see how PE and Sport fits into this ‘bigger picture’ and align to these beliefs and values. As a consequence, curriculums are often ‘sport led’ because of tradition, rather than ‘child and learning led’ (I’ll explore this more in Part 2), often because of a belief that ‘this is what we have to do isn’t it?’ As a consequence, PE and Sport has often been delivered in a way that is not always inclusive and often not personalised. In some schools, I have read how essential physical activity and development is to the development of every child within the school, yet PE is postponed during the months of November and December or missing PE is used as a way to manage poor behaviour.

As part of the real PE programme, we go back to basics and ask those attending why we do PE, why it’s important and what we are trying to achieve. The language may vary but the answers are consistent – to encourage and enable lifelong participation (which can lead to health and wellbeing benefits); to help young people maximise their potential and be the best they can be; to develop a range of life and learning skills that can also support whole school aims.

Having established why we do PE and what we’re trying to achieve, we can then look at what skills and abilities we need to develop in our children and young people to achieve these outcomes. When we explore this with teachers, coaches and others there is an overwhelming consensus as to what is most important. Nobody talks about sport specific skills as being the most important, but instead developing a broad range of skills and abilities, with personal, social and emotional abilities particularly important, things like confidence, self-esteem, determination, resilience, communication and the ability to work with and learn from others to name a few.

Without going through this process of really establishing what we believe and value first, we are in danger of then valuing what we measure rather than measuring what we value. I once worked for an organisation where the perceived key measure (or KPI as it was called) was the number of people worked with, with little or no reference to the quality of the support and the impact it made on these people. Because this was the measure, numbers became the key currency and a race to work with as many people as possible began, with the quality of the interaction and the impact it had of secondary importance. It really is worth taking the time to do this properly, as it should then influence everything else – your curriculum and broader offer, your teaching and learning methods, your assessment or in other words, what you say and what you do…

Part 2 will look at the challenges and importance of aligning what we say and what we do with what we believe and value (or hurdles 2 and 3!)

I am the proud mum of Joshua (5 years old) and Alice (3 years old) and for my first blog, and others to follow, I’m going to reflect on the amazing experiences parenthood brings and apply my personal learning to the core principals which drive the work we do at Create.

Firstly, I’ll set the scene: it’s Halloween and I’m taking Joshua and Alice to a Halloween party at a large soft play area. All three of us have picked out our costumes, we have had fun getting ready and we’re off. On arriving at the party, there is a queue of parents with their children waiting for the doors to open. I am mortified when I realise that I can’t see any other adult dressed up. This leaves me with a dilemma; do I keep my costume on and risk the perceived embarrassment of being the only adult in fancy dress?

The dilemma I faced, and what happened next really made me reflect. What would life be like if we didn’t take risks? Is our life truly enriched by us having the confidence and courage to take a chance, to try something new, by putting ourselves out of our comfort zone?

This is something that we do everyday at Create: we form new local partnerships, we challenge partners to try a new approach. We ask teachers, Headteachers and practitioners to have the confidence and courage to try something new, to dare to change the way they deliver PE.

Through Family FUNS we are now extending that challenge into the home environment by nurturing, supporting and inspiring families to change how they play and learn together.

Create’s vision is to redefine what’s possible for PE, Sport and physical activity by creating positive relationships with physical activity for life. We are asking partners, practitioners and families to come on that journey with us, to make small changes in order to develop new positive habits. For a few, this is exciting: they are ready. Others are a little more hesitant wherever there is change there is a perceived risk.

Going back to the Halloween party, I’m still in the car considering my options: take off my costume and blend into the party whilst almost certainly seeing the little sparkle leave Josh and Alice’s eyes, or do I just go for it and ‘inflate’ my costume?

I make my choice and I hit the inflate button. It takes 30 seconds for my giant inflatable pumpkin to be in its full glory, I take a deep breath and I walk across the car park to the queue. I’m feeling nervous. How will people respond to me, have I done the right thing? As I get closer, people start to look at me, lots of them – did I make the right choice?

The first person, someone I don’t know, smiles at me and asks “Did you drive here like that? I guess you didn’t need an air bag!” I feel more at ease. Other people I don’t know are chatting to me. I quite like it now. I have been accepted into the party with a full embrace. As I begin to feel more confident, my friend takes a photo which is later posted on a social networking site. To my astonishment my photo receives nearly 23,500 likes and over 600 positive comments. Friends I hadn’t seen for a number of years were re-connecting with me having seen the photo. I had been given the name ‘Pumpkin Mum’ and there is even a suggestion I should run for Prime Minister!

For me being ‘Pumpkin Mum’ was a truly enriching experience. I spoke with new people, I re-connected with old friends, I have an amazing story to share but most importantly for me, Joshua and Alice still talk about ‘Pumpkin Mum’, so I know it enriched their experience.

Mark Zuckerberg was famously quoted as saying “The biggest risk is not taking a risk… You are better off trying something and having it not work and learning from that than not doing anything at all.” When I look back to the times in my life where I have grown as a person and had experiences from which I have learnt, these are the times I look back on most fondly, the memories that have stuck and the experiences I love to share. One thing they all have in common: I took a perceived risk.

Read Part 1 of Phil Wylie’s blog, reflecting on his experience in a dance class and why he chose learning to dance for his wedding as his Create Personal Challenge:

“…I had just experienced a traditional sport/PE/games lesson and I didn’t enjoy it. I knew that and could accept it and fortunately this wasn’t shaping my view of myself, dance or even PE. However, I did consider how many young people would have the mindset to overcome this experience, particularly if repeated over and over again.”

During our company retreat in November 2014 we attended a dance class at the end of a long day of meetings. The idea was to get a bit of exercise, clear our heads and do a bit of team bonding. The dance teacher was lovely and very welcoming to the eight Creators who descended on her quiet little class!

Always keen for a challenge I was happy to have a go, knowing that dancing was something I find really difficult. I’m great moving forwards at speed (cycling and running) but changing direction, speed, levels and coordinating my hands and feet at the same time or to a beat is a major challenge! At school I found learning difficult in most subjects but I always got where I needed to be in the end with some independent thinking time away from lessons and lots of hard work. I found I needed longer than others to understand questions, problems and come up with answers whilst my classmates waded in with their own thoughts as I was still thinking. I scraped through my GCSE Maths, Science and English.

So when the dancing started I was fine with the first few steps and practicing on my own without any music. I felt I was getting it… Almost a smile on my face! Then the music came on, some movement in different directions, followed quickly by some arm movements, another step and then a change of pace. Give me a break! At regular intervals our teacher asked “Are you ready for the next bit?” At one point I actually said out loud (jokingly) “No! Definitely not!” but I knew this was more of a swim or sink class and not real PE. I was lost, still thinking about 1,2,3 left foot forwards right foot forwards and back. I tried to watch others and copy, even taking time out to think but there was too much going on.

After 30 minutes of trying to keep up and falling further behind I paused for a few moments. I genuinely thought, “What’s the point?” The lesson was happening around me as if I wasn’t there. I was bored by then and a bit frustrated mainly because of the pace of the progressions and the distractions of music and the movement of people around me. I was too far behind to catch up now and there was only a short time left. It was the first time I could remember feeling like this for a long time and a great reminder of the impact of how we introduce and develop challenges and skills. Were these the feelings and responses of someone in the early stages of panic?

Ultimately, I knew I could master the dance but I needed some quiet space, some time to practice and master some basic steps on my own and/or some smaller more manageable progressions. I wasn’t going to get that in this mass participation class so not wanting to appear as though I wasn’t trying I joined in and had a go when I could and watched others when I got lost until it was over. It was a case of getting through it.

My conclusion? I had just experienced a traditional sport/PE/games lesson and I didn’t enjoy it. I knew that and could accept it and fortunately this wasn’t shaping my view of myself, dance or even PE. However, I did consider how many young people would have the mindset to overcome this experience, particularly if repeated over and over again.

When the Create Personal Challenge was announced it didn’t take long for me to come up with my own. I was getting married in December and it’s traditional to do a first dance. Keira and I have been to several weddings over the last two years and watched a lot of awkward swaying from side-to-side when the first dance is announced for the unfortunate couple. Very little reflection was needed by me on this occasion! I find dancing challenging but fun and Keira was keen to learn a ballroom dance for our wedding. Interestingly, we were both also looking for a hobby/something we could do together in our own time.

Create Personal Challenge? Learn a dance for our wedding (short-medium term) with a view to a hobby we could continue and enjoy together (long term).

Keep your eyes peeled to find out how Phil’s challenge went in the next installment of his blog. To read more about the Create Personal Challenge and find out how Jan Parker used it as an opportunity to take on the Manchester to Blackpool bike race, click here.

At the start of 2015, the staff at Create Development were asked to consider an exciting, personal challenge and to explore what personal and professional learning they might gain from the experience. It had to be something that they really wanted to do, may have already planned to do and it had to be outside our traditional skill set or really difficult for us to achieve. We’re sharing a selection of blogs documenting some of our successful and still progressing challenges, as we watch our team redefine what’s possible for themselves.

So far, we’ve already heard from Jan Parker about her incredible challenge to complete the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride – if you missed it, click here to read Part 1 of her blog. This week, we’ll be checking in with Lesley Doughty, Client Manager and Lead Tutor, as she challenges herself to improve both her mental and physical wellbeing through a few simple lifestyle changes.

Lesley’s blogOverall, my personal challenge was to lead a more healthy life both mentally and physically, and I set about doing it two-fold:

Part One
After a bit of self-reflection and comments from my children and friends about not cutting off from work, I decided to take the following steps to re-address this issue:
1. As soon as I set foot in my house after a day’s work (or, if I’m working from home, when the children get home from school), I do not make or answer work calls or look/send/reply to emails.
2. If I have business that needs attending to that I can’t manage throughout a normal working day, I instead get up an hour earlier the following morning to manage (before the children wake up).
3. I do not send or receive calls or emails during weekends or holidays.

The one thing I still found myself doing was upon waking up in the morning, I’d check my emails on my phone straight away. After discovering that Pam (Create’s Director of Delivery) did exactly the same we made a pact to stop doing it, which I’ve stuck to. Luckily, this came just before the summer, so initially this hasn’t been too difficult to adjust to!

There have been, of course, occasions when I have been unable to stick to the above but in general, I’ve been successful. Once I was in the habit of following the rules, they became easier to stick to. I found explaining this to other people the biggest challenge, but in fact most people have called it a great idea and totally accepted it.

The end result? I feel more refreshed each morning and as I’m spending proper time with the kids, they are happier and I feel less guilty!

Part Two
Over the last 6 years due to personal issues, I’ve gradually put on weight and become less active. I knew (and still know) that this is something I must address, as not only is it contributing to health issues, but also a decline in my self-esteem.

The intention was to calorie count and start going to the gym or a class and I applied to run the Great Northern Run. Along the way, I’ve encountered obstacles of stress, childcare, injury and work.

However, these have become an excuse rather than obstacles to overcome and at points, I’ve failed. I’ve had bouts of being ‘good’ but have always lapsed.

So, what is it that goes through my head? I’m tired, I haven’t enough time, wine is the only way I can relax (followed by snacking of course!), I’ve got nobody to look after the kids and so on. I know these are just excuses and actually mentally I feel sooooo much better when I get out running, cycling, going to bootcamp, sticking to my daily calories.

What’s stopping me then? I think most of it is that it seems such a big mountain to climb and basically I want it now!

So how am I managing it? Well, I’ve now found a bootcamp in my village that runs three times a week and takes place in the park. Ben joins in the bootcamp while Hannah plays on the playpark with a friend – childcare sorted! As I’ve paid up front and we have a group messenger account, I find I make myself go so as not to appear lazy and to make sure I’m not wasting money – tiredness sorted! As I’m sticking to the ‘no work on evenings’ rule, work is also sorted!

I feel, therefore, that over the last three weeks I’ve got the exercise back in check.

The calories counting I’m still finding a challenge. I like cooking (normally with a glass a wine in my hand), my children are very active so need a high calorific diet and as my last year’s challenge was to improve my social life, I’m now going out a lot more which normally involves food and/or alcohol!

I’m now starting to keep a food diary and am intending to look at the calorie challenge one day at a time, saving up calories when I know I have a night out coming up.

The main lessons that I’d take away so far from my challenge would be:
1. Trust in others to support me
2. Break things down into smaller steps feels more achievable
3. Change excuses into obstacles to overcome and look for manageable solutions
4. Success feels good!
5. Change takes time

Last time we heard from Jan Parker, she aimed to complete the amazing task of the Manchester to Blackpool cycle ride in aid of the M.E Association. She had started the training process (if you missed out, you can click here to catch up!). Now, in Part 2, we’ll be finding out how she got on in completing this incredible Create Personal Challenge and what she learned along the way.

Written by Jan Parker, Create Development Client Manager and Tutor.

May/June

I’ve entered the Manchester to Blackpool ride on 12th July – starting at Old Trafford. Whoop! Whoop!

I’ve also set up a Just Giving page – and people are actually donating. People are so generous! Even had a donation from someone I don’t even know through an M.E Facebook page.

I’m getting more of a training programme in place. I’m trying to go for a longer ride at the weekend and a shorter one during the week, although I’m finding it very difficult with work and other commitments. I took the bikes to Dorset for a week and enjoyed some new scenery. I’m proud to say that we have never repeated a longer ride (we are lucky enough to live near Tatton Park so a short route from our house, through the park and back again is approximately 13km, so it’s good for an after work ride).

Getting nervous now that we are getting nearer to the date of the ride (12th July), and I’m definitely a fair weather rider; what if it is chucking it down on the day??!

We’ve had some memorable rides over this time but two stand out in my mind: the first one is the longest one we did in training (44 miles) which was a really lovely day riding mostly along little country lanes around home that we didn’t even know existed. The last part was tough though – tired legs, the A50 with cars and lorries whizzing past and a head wind but felt a real sense of achievement. The second ride was a real tough one. We had not been able to manage a weekend ride so had to fit it in after work after a particularly heavy period of delivery. Roger was home before me and sorted out the route so we set off and everything was going fine. We came to a part where there is a new road with a cycle path down the side and I thought this was going to be great – not too far to go home and a nice surface to ride on. But did we go down it? Oh no, the husband had decided that we needed some “hills practice” so we tackled the locally notorious “Wizard” at Alderley Edge. Every time I thought it might be levelling out, we would turn a corner and there would be another steep climb. This was the toughest yet and I was close to never wanting to see a bike again! This ride was very close to D-Day and I knew that, mentally, I needed to do another ride which was enjoyable before the day otherwise I would be fighting demons all the way.

July

This is it! The day has arrived. Have to say I am really nervous, worried that I won’t be able to complete, that I haven’t done enough training…

However, it was BRILLIANT! It was a little drizzly at the start and cool – perfect weather. Our family came out to support us on the way and the wonderful Phill O’Brien brought us and our bikes back home at the end. I managed all the hills (!), loved the camaraderie amongst the riders, the encouragement from bystanders and the feeling that we were doing something that was worthwhile and purposeful.

What I have learned so far:

> Cyclists don’t wear knickers under their padded shorts!

> Although I am a determined character, I know I would have struggled to do this on my own. My lovely hubby has encouraged, sweated with me and sorted out all our routes – what a hero!

> Anything that requires endurance and stamina is as much about a mental state of mind as it is about the physical

> An endurance activity can also be fun!

August

Just had an email to say that as we have raised over £700, that puts us in the top 5% of Just giving donations!

What’s next?

I’m still researching about M.E and finding out more – there is so much to find out

See how the very first Family FUNS session at Shirley Warren went by viewing their blog. The blog includes great photos of the nursery and primary school playing a game of pirates and working alongside each other.

real PE – a unique perspective“For my blog, I wanted to offer a unique perspective on a teacher establishing real PE in their school. The twist…the teacher in question is my wife! I make no guarantees that I will still have a wife come the third instalment. It appears that whilst I score pretty well with teachers who attend one of my real PE Create Learning Communities, when it comes to my most dearest, I have many failings – apparently…”

We’re excited to announce that real PE has come to Devon! Seventeen PE Coordinators from 13 schools across the county met in Exeter last week to begin their real PE journey with Create’s Matt Lloyd. A huge thanks to our fantastic host and Local Partner Steve Pritchard at Exeter University Cricket Centre for helping to make the day a great success.

The day was fun, energetic and informative and all those that attended loved the real PE approach and thought the content was excellent. See below for comments from the PE Coordinators:

“I loved the easy assessment process, moving the focus from the teacher to the child.”

“A refreshing insight into how we can help ALL children to succeed at PE and make a real difference in their lives.”

“The course fulfilled my expectation of an approach that moves away from tradition.”

“It challenged what the focus of PE should be – giving children learning narrative.”

“A thought provoking and refreshing take on the future of PE.”

We at Create are delighted that real PE is coming to Devon and how it was received by those who attended the course.

Yorkshire has been bitten by the real PE bug and it’s spreading across the county. Subject leaders who have attended the three-day training programme have returned to their schools with the enthusiasm and confidence to consistently teach outstanding PE lessons. The real PE approach is holistic and the long-term sustainable programme which includes fun and simple Schemes of Work and an online portal provides ongoing support to teachers.

If you’re based in the Yorkshire area and are attending the Annual Active Schools Leeds Conference, come and visit us on Friday 25th September in the market place to find out more or contact us at info@createdevelopment.co.uk

We’re recruiting! Join our expanding and dynamic team – two new positions are available. See below for further details:

Finance AssistantSALARY: £18,000 – £22,000
Create Development seeks an enthusiastic and proactive individual to join our rapidly expanding Finance Department. We are looking for a confident and committed individual to work as part of a team and ensure the purchase ledger and sales ledger operations run efficiently. The ideal candidate will be in the early stages of their finance career with a view to develop and will have some experience in administrative support, expense management, data integrity, invoice processing and knowledge of cost estimates is desirable but not essential.

For full details including full role, skills, interests and qualities click here.

CLOSING DATE: 28th August 2015START DATE: September/October 2015

Create Development Wheel (CD Wheel) CoordinatorSALARY: £18,000- £22,000
Create Development seeks an enthusiastic and proactive individual to join the rapidly expanding Department of Operations to manage the Create Development Wheel (CD Wheel), our online assessment tool. The successful candidate will be keen to explore new projects, be willing to take on challenges and develop their core skills. The ideal candidate will have some experience in customer service, administrative support, expense management, data integrity, invoice processing and a knowledge of cost estimates is desirable but not essential.

For full details including full role, skills, interests and qualities click here.

If you live in and around the Warminster area and would like to find out more about the Family FUNS programme, come to the FREE introduction day on Monday, 29th June (8.30am-3.00pm).

Family FUNS is a unique, early intervention programme which helps families play and learn together whilst supporting children to develop the physical and literacy, emotional and thinking skills to achieve in PE and life.

We are very proud to be in partnership with the RFL and none more so than today! We’re delighted to see young RFL players with the support of England Captain Sean O’Loughlin, profiling themselves on the RFL ‘Talent Development Profile Wheel’ on CBBC Newsround today. You can also view the video by clicking here.

Last night we were able to recognise and celebrate the work of teachers, individuals, schools and institutions that make such a difference to the lives of children at the Create Development National Awards. It was a very special evening, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Although we were only able to personally congratulate a handful of exception people, the awards also celebrated the work of 1000s of others too.

The theme for the evening was black and/or white with a hint of magenta. Speakers included Iestyn Thomas, CEO and Founder of ChallengeAid, our chosen charity for the evening, and Lee Dickson, Scrum-half for Northampton Saints and England. After the amazing awards ceremony, delicious meal and a few fundraising games, the entertainment, including a disco, was in full flow where we all celebrated in true Create style.

Thank you to Colourtone for sponsoring real PE Innovation of the Year and exceed Innovation of the Year awards.

Once again, we would like to say a HUGE congratulations to all the outstanding finalists, winners and the 1000s of schools and organisations that we work with.

YOU are all redefining what’s possible.

The winners:

National School of the Year (NW)
Cheetham CE Community Academy

National School of the Year (Nth)Broadgate Primary School

National School of the Year (Mids)Falconer’s Hill Infant School

National School of the Year (SW)
North Town Primary School

National School of the Year (SE)
Woodhill Primary School

National School of the Year (Sth)
Marish Academy Trust

National School Advocate of the Year (NW)
Paul Naylor, Gaskell Primary School

National School Advocate of the Year (Nth)
Kelly Waugh, Forest View Primary School

National School Advocate of the Year (Mids)
Leigh Wolmarans, Lings Primary School

National School Advocate of the Year (SW)Mark Templeton, North Town Primary School

National School Advocate of the Year (SE)
Mark Needham, Willow Tree Primary School

National School Advocate of the Year (Sth)
Jason Elwell, Marish Academy Trust

National Summer School of the Year
St Gregory the Great School

National Partner of the Year (NW)
Jan Parker, LiveWire

National Partner of the Year (N)
Lindsy James, Active Fusion

National Partner of the Year (Mids)
Julie Chrysostomou, South Solihull SSP

Our largest, national event of the year is almost here and the list of national finalists is announced below.

The Create Development National Awards held on Wednesday, 13th May 2015 recognises and celebrates teachers, individuals, schools and institutions who do exceptional work and make a real impact on the lives of children.

Ronnie Heath, Managing Director said:“We’re thrilled to be able to personally congratulate special individuals and more importantly celebrate the work of thousands of schools and organisations who make such a huge difference to the lives of children with their outstanding work by redefining what’s possible.”

Who has your vote?

Category: National School of the Year 2015

Baretrees Primary School
Jo Marston at Baretrees Primary School attended a real PE cohort in Oldham and was one of the first schools to commit to Whole school training. She fought hard to personalise the training days and the tutor was bowled over with the level of energy and enthusiasm from the staff.

Binfield CE Primary School
Over the last two years, at least five members of staff have taken part in a real PE programme and they have embraced it. Their commitment to teaching PE has a real impact on the pupils. They focus on the whole child and developing their needs and they have said the pupils are now aware of their own learning journeys, which, not only associate to PE but also supports their development across the curriculum. The school has also been developing the assessment framework and making it work for them and sharing this with other schools within the borough.

Broadgate Primary School
Broadgate Primary School has developed an extremely positive learning environment for the children in PE by creating wonderful displays around real PE, and also as a result of all teaching staff embracing the scheme and understanding the real impact it has on pupil’s learning.

Cheetham CE Community Academy
Three staff from Cheetham, known as Charlie’s Angels, attended a real PE course in Manchester and convinced Carolyn Timms, Subject Leader they also needed Whole school training. Carolyn embraced this and the school’s PE has flourished. They’re now exploring a Family FUNS club to extend the real PE messages at home. Sushma Sharma said:
“…real PE has built up my confidence in the teaching of PE as the progression of skills are very clear yet I can teach with flexibility and differentiation whilst still giving children choices. I feel it has taken away the prescriptive lessons and brought PE lessons to life for the children.”

Denaby Main Primary School
The school have transformed the quality of their PE delivery since using real PE. The teachers have found new enthusiasm for PE with the two greatest changes being the improved confidence in teaching and enjoyment of PE by the pupils. The following was stated in the schools recent OFSTED report: “The school has developed a clear plan for using their allocation of sports premium monies. This includes further training opportunities for staff to develop new skills which are beginning to improve the quality of physical education (PE) teaching and the health and well-being of pupils.”

Falconer’s Hill Infant School
Hayley Hunt has enthusiastically led the school through great development in the teaching of PE. When real PE was introduced it was a very different way of working for staff and some were understandably hesitant and nervous. Hayley attended the training initially and encouraged and supported staff as they became accustomed to its implementation. She is now, not only delivering outstanding PE lessons herself and acting in an advice capacity but, continuing to move the school forward. This has involved developing assessment materials to compliment real PE and home learning challenges for the school. Hayley has begun to deliver Family FUNS in the school as an after school club. She is always highly supportive of all staff, very approachable and has an infectious sense of fun that permeates all her interactions with her colleagues.

Glenfield Infant School
Through the support of Sports Solent and the real PE programme over the last 2 years, the confidence, enthusiasm and skill level for teaching PE in the school has increased dramatically. The lessons are now pacy, full of rigour and challenge and fun. It is a pleasure to observe the children in lessons receiving high quality PE teaching, whilst also developing their personal skills. Several coaches and an Ofsted inspector gave extremely high praise for the PE lessons they have seen.

Kings Oak Primary Learning Centre
Since three members of the teaching staff from Kings Oak, attended the first cohort for real PE the school have embraced and integrated the programme across the curriculum. The school has since become the first in the area to show its continued commitment to real PE by taking the Whole staff training. Further support is also given to staff by Team Activ specialists to ensure teachers are confident enough to use the resources and apply the philosophies of real PE so every child makes outstanding progress.

Kirk Sandall Infant School
Kirk Sandall Infant School and teacher, Jacki Greenwood has been a joy to work with. Jacki is really friendly and ask lots of great questions. She has supported the learning of real PE and has been really instrumental and a driving force in sharing best practice with all her cluster schools. The school has seen a great difference in teaching and learning.

Lings Primary School
Lings Primary School in Northampton have enjoyed their most successful ever year for sport, after using Create Development’s real PE as the basis for their PE lessons. Headteacher, Leigh Wolmarans describes real PE as the best thing he has seen on the market for 20 years and has said that it has an unbelievable impact on the children due to the quality of learning. He often showcases his real PE lessons to visitors to the schools and shares best practice with other Headteachers, schools, agencies and sporting organisations in the county. His passion and motivation to develop the whole child is infectious.

Lyndhurst Primary School
Physical Education is key in this school and over the last two years PE Coordinator, Jay King has led and developed a whole school ethos with real PE at its core. Children are praised, understand their own ability and are able to make exceptional progress due to creative teaching and learning. real PE has also begun to have a wider impact on lessons across the whole school with personal challenge being at the core. There is no doubt that this school, under the leadership of Jay, provide the best possible learning outcomes for their pupils; outcomes which start in high quality Physical Education.

Marish Academy Trust
This school doesn’t just talk the talk, it walks the walk and then sprints with it!! The school have embedded real PE into the heart of the school and cross-curricular work is now based solely around the four cogs. The results speak for themselves: Ofsted commented on how well the Sports Premium was well invested in specialist staff to deliver an inspiring curriculum that all children can engage with. The lead inspector was impressed with the fact that children are able to self assess on a personalised PE curriculum using a variety of assessment tools. The school are not only developing their own good practice but they extend their support to all schools across Slough without any hesitation and purely for wanting children to be receiving high quality PE and developing skills for life.

Mattishall Primary School
Teacher Jane Taylor attended the first cohort of the real PE in Norfolk and truly embraced the ethos of the new approach to teaching PE in her school. She pushed it hard across the school leading to the school creating a separate inset day to get all staff trained. Jane has fully embraced the impact the approach can and is having with her pupils. She has improved the teaching environment by creating a Create Development/real PE wall to support learning and to positively impact development within real PE lessons. She has acted as an excellent advocate of real PE with other schools/PE leaders. Following Jane’s drive the whole school teaching of real PE has dramatically improved perceptions about PE and enjoyment of the subject.

Milstead Special School
Milstead is an SLD primary school with some really challenging children. Kate Shelley, Subject Leader worked hard to introduce real PE throughout the school as PE had been a subject the school had previously found very difficult. With inset support, Kate and John Shaw, a PE Teaching Assistant, introduced a common theme throughout all the classes from PMLD and ASD classes through to more mobile classes and the whole school began to explore the songs together in assembly. Kate organised for classes to share good practice and the feedback from all staff was that it increased confidence levels and participation levels from the children. Kate has since left the school but John continues to deliver across the school with teaching staff.

Monkton Park Primary School
Monkton Park Primary School have been immersed in the Create Development approach for many years and are now a leading light for the area in real PE. Their teaching is having a real impact on the pupils learning.

North Town School
The impact of real PE has been amazing. When the Year 6 cohort of 60 pupils were asked who wanted to represent the school in a hockey tournament (not a sport they offer/cover at North Town in the curriculum or after school club), 52 hands went up – that’s growth mindset in action. In the end, 28 different pupils went to the tournaments, none were hockey players but all had great attitudes and with great teamwork they went on to be Tone area champions!

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Primary School
Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Primary School has really embraced the real PE approach within their school. Headteacher, Maire Hayes and her staff are passionate at supporting the development of both their pupils and staff.

St Finian’s Catholic Primary School
Teacher Selina is a massive inspiration to all her pupils and fully engages in the real PE and real gym approach and can’t wait for real dance. Her commitment to school sport has led to huge success not only in her own environment with motivated, happy learners and fully engaged teachers excited by teaching PE, but also in the wider community. They had great success at the school games this year with many teams performing so very well. Selina puts the basis of their physical literacy down to all the high quality real PE programmes that have been delivered (usually all in her school!), creating building blocks for the full game. Feedback has told us she is phenomenal and very special indeed.

St Mary’s RC Primary School
Lisa Snelson bounced in Day 1 of real PE and was completely committed and motivated from then on. She delivers PE in three schools and has worked hard to introduce real PE to all schools. She also arranged for staff at the schools to come together for a taster session. Lisa has been teaching PE a long time but was open and willing to dive in and have a go. She is a fantastically, supportive person to have on any training.

Stockton Heath Primary School
We have been delighted to see the progress and transformation within the school as a result of real PE. Headteacher, Dan Harding sums up their journey perfectly: ”The difference real PE has made to Stockton Heath Primary School children and staff in a very short space of time is phenomenal. We have always had a very clear vision and ethos about the value of PE and Sport but real PE has provided a context and structure that has allowed us to embed and ‘cement’ that ethos from EYFS all the way through to Year 6. real PE has revolutionised our approach to PE and Sport teaching and learning and allowed us to see outstanding progress in all pupils of all ability levels. The skills progression-based learning, the level of challenge for more-able children and the self-assessment tools in particular have enabled our pupils to take real ownership of their own development. Pupils thoroughly enjoy PE and Sport here and have gained enormous self-confidence and invaluable teamwork, coordination and spatial awareness skills through the real PE scheme. From a Headteacher’s perspective, it has been extremely rewarding to see how much more comfortable and confident staff members are delivering PE lessons that: are clearly structured, appropriately differentiated, engage all learners, develop skills which can be applied across a wide range of sports and physical activities, are not simply rooted in ‘supervising’ team games (which can so often be the case in primary schools). My staff and children look forward to real PE based lessons with great anticipation and talk very passionately about the huge positive impact real PE has had on behaviour, attitudes to learning and respect for self and others. Everyone’s perception of what physical education actually means and its benefits has changed thanks to real PE.”

Wessex Primary School
A real strength of Wessex Primary School is the strong advocacy provided by the Headteacher, and the drive from the teachers who attended the formal real PE training who believed in the benefits of the programme and wanted to ensure the impact was felt across the whole school. Pupils have been excited, enthused and interested in their learning in PE through the introduction of real PE. The visual side has definitely made a difference to the pupil’s journeys from teacher led learning to become independent learners. The pupils have improved their fundamental movement skills, and have progressed their learning in personal, social, cognitive, creative, physical skills as well as improved their health and fitness. Helen Southerden, Y6 class teacher said: “The children have absolutely loved the real PE we have started this term. It is brilliant for the teacher to step back and watch the children take ownership for their own learning, whilst pushing the more able children to attempt the more difficult challenges. The cognitive learning goals are also very important in highlighting to the children how much they have to think about to achieve in PE. It is fantastic! The self assessment wheels for them to use in class are brilliant for keeping track of what challenge they are working on.”

Woodhill Primary School
Woodhill delivers real PE as part of their curriculum, adapting it to meet the needs of their children, e.g. through a creative ‘life PE’ approach e.g. combining one leg balance with scooter training and seated balance with cycling. They use the Create approach to target specific groups, e.g. using Learn to Compete, Compete to Learn every afternoon in their nurture unit to support behaviour (personal/social); they have health interventions for KS1 and KS2 delivered through Learn to Compete, Compete to Learn and FUNS and also use FUNS to support more able sessions.

Category: National School Advocate of the Year 2015

Caroline Muldoon, Burton Joyce Primary School
Caroline attended the very first real PE introduction meeting in Nottingham and from the start her enthusiasm and positivity shone through. She embraced the real PE values and approach and was determined that it was something that would be a benefit to her school and others across Notts. Caroline was a huge advocate and really helped to generate local interest and was fundamental in ensuring the first cohort took place. Caroline enthusiasm for real PE continues.

Chris Short, Bradshaw Community Primary School
Chris was one of the initial Headteachers in Warrington to sign up to real PE and his school was one of the first to undertake training. Since then, Chris has been bitten by the Create Development bug! Not only has his school established the Create Development ethos under his leadership, but he has been pivotal in inspiring other Headteachers to start their Create learning journeys. In fact, Jenny McAleny, Deputy Headteacher at Stockton Heath Primary School said: “Initially I wasn’t too keen on accessing real PE as I thought we had enough to do, but Chris kept talking to me about it so much that in the end I gave in. It’s the best thing we did and has transformed the teaching of PE in our school.” Chris’s dedication and commitment has ensured that Warrington is firmly on the Create learning journey.

Dan Jones, St Wilfrid’s RC Primary School
Dan is the Subject Leader at a renowned school for PE in York and he was asked to attend a meeting by his SGO to see if real PE was a good scheme for their schools. He immediately bought in to the approach and ethos and since then Dan has shared real PE with other schools in his cluster, travelled miles to attend a real PE cohort outside of his area and continues to promote and be an advocate for real PE with surrounding schools.

Dave Tregilgas, Selina Porter and Helen Colquhoun, Chippenham Partnership of Schools
Dave, Selina and Helen have a fantastic reputation for being great school advocates and as a group, the Chippenham Partnership are fantastic supporters of the Create approach, not only encouraging schools to take on real PE, but also to make sure they are strong enough to deliver real PE and model best practice.

Elizabeth Leece, New Islington Free School
Liz was initially very instrumental in encouraging Cheetham, the first school in Manchester to convert to Whole school. She also took real PE to her new school and we are about to deliver a whole school inset in July. Liz has been positive, willing to try anything and infectious with her enthusiasm.

Flo Head, Abington Vale Primary School
Flo attended the first ever real PE course in the county and since then her enthusiasm and passion helps develop PE not only in her school but has an impact on other teachers learning across other schools. More recently, Flo hosted the first ever ‘real PE Teach Meet’ in the county where she inspired many discussions and supported teachers by sharing with them ideas on delivery. Flo’s unique as not only has she improved her own PE delivery but she has shown evidence that she is an outstanding practitioner as she has impacted on teachers and children across the whole school and the wider community!

Jacki Greenwood, Kirk Sandall Infant School
Jacki Greenwood has been a joy to work with. Jacki is really friendly and ask lots of great questions. She has supported the learning of real PE and has been really instrumental and a driving force in sharing best practice with all her cluster schools.

Jane Perrons, Holmfirth JI and N School
Jane is one of the only people to contact Create Development demanding we start a cohort in her area! She then worked tirelessly contacting schools and keeping in contact and arranging presentations to the Headteacher network meetings and introducing us to our new partner in Kirklees before buying in to Whole school training and rolling out real PE throughout the school. The staff at the inset day were amazing and she had even invited other schools to take part. “Jane was like a dog with a bone and worked until she had her staff trained and all delivering from the real PE schemes with energy and enthusiasm.”

Jason Elwell, Marish Academy Trust
Headteacher, Gill Denham says: “Jason Elwell is an example to us all. He is dedicated beyond the call of duty to use his love of PE to inspire children to challenge expectations across the curriculum and to promote better outcomes for all. Not content with inspiring both staff and children in our own schools, he has tirelessly publicised and practised Create Development’s real PE across primary schools in Slough. The combination of PE and leadership and citizenship learning is unique and highly motivating. It has impacted positively on outcomes at Marish Academy Trust, particularly over the last year and cannot fail to support outcomes for all of Slough’s children if schools enable them to get involved.”

Kelly Waugh, Forest View Primary School
Kelly works in a school that has seen many changes recently as over half the staff left and therefore, it has received a lot of attention from the local authority and Ofsted was imminent when she signed up to real PE. Despite being Early Years Co-ordinator she has driven real PE throughout the school with passion and enthusiasm. The result is that the whole school has taken real PE fully on board with fabulous results. An Ofsted inspector commented on a colleague’s lesson as being the best PE lesson she had ever seen in her whole career. The teacher, in question, attributes this purely to Kelly’s enthusiasm and support in selling real PE.

Leigh Wolmarans, Lings Primary School
Leigh is the Headteacher at Lings and teaches PE two and a half days a week. Leigh believes that real PE puts quality learning and detaching at the heart and bridges the gap between the classroom and the sports field. His passion, enthusiasm and belief in the real PE approach has made him somewhat of an ambassador and he often showcases his real PE lessons to visitors to the schools. He has also supported teachers from other schools with their training, using his pupils as leaders. Leigh says, “You have to make a stand for things you believe in.”

Lisa Snelson, St Mary’s Catholic School
Lisa bounced in Day 1 of real PE and was completely committed and motivated from then on. She delivers PE in three schools and has worked hard to introduce real PE to all schools. She also arranged for staff at the schools to come together for a taster session. Lisa has been teaching PE a long time but was open and willing to dive in and have a go. She is a fantastically, supportive person to have on any training.

Lucy Ray, St James Church School
Lucy is a fantastic advocate for real PE. She actively promotes real PE to other schools at any opportunity. They have completely embraced the philosophy of real PE in this challenging school. The attendance at after school clubs has rocketed and the attitude to learning and behaviour in PE has been revolutionised. They have developed and improved communication with other schools and parents via Twitter, set home challenges and are changing and challenging attitudes to physical activity within the school.
Mark Needham, Willow Tree Primary School
Mark is passionate at developing the whole child by using the real PE approach to support teachers and change the way children learn. We’ve received nothing but positive feedback about Mark and many have praised his enthusiasm and energy.

Mark Needham, Willow Tree Primary School
Mark and his team, based at Willow Tree Primary School, have totally embraced and driven real PE with over 30 schools in the local area, providing post course support and advice and really driving the new ethos and philosophy of real PE both within his own school and other schools, taking huge pride in the successes of both and also continually engaging with and challenging us to provide more support. Without Mark’s support and energy, the programme would not have been the success it is, and we are delighted to be building on the great work with further training and support next year through real PE and new programmes such as real gym.

Mark Templeton, North Town School
Mark is a great advocate for real PE. He has regularly visited other local schools to team teach with and support other teachers of real PE. He is a trusted member of the Tone area PLT cluster group and regularly spreads the word and shares the philosophies of real PE and the impact it has had at North Town with others. He constantly reflects on his own practice and strives to give the children the best experience possible in PE.

Paul Naylor, Gaskill Primary School
Paul attended real PE in Merseyside and immediately asked how he could involve the schools in Bolton. He involved his Headteacher and has signed up for Whole school training and Family FUNS. He is providing taster sessions for schools in Bolton to experience real PE and has been continually enthusiastic, supportive and motivated other delegates. Paul’s feedback on the real PE programme really helped to lift the overall level and helped other delegate’s level of commitment.

Ruth Chappell, Ascot and Maidenhead School Sport Partnership
Ruth’s drive for excellence in PE and sport and developing the whole child is evident in all that she does. Her energy and ability to motivate others using the real PE approach has made a real difference to teachers and children and had a great impact.

Sam Hartwell, Rye Oak Primary School
Sam is a shining light in the world of partnership working for PE across Peckham. She is passionate about ensuring that every child has the opportunity to participate in high quality competition in a wide range of sports and activities, which are both inclusive and challenging for all. In addition, Sam also arranges Network Meetings for the cluster, which, provide a valuable outlet to share best practice, competition structures and development ideas. She truly shares, engages, and supports other schools.

Tanya Irvine, Hillyfield Primary Academy
We’ve heard nothing but praise about Tanya’s drive and enthusiasm to get children excited, challenged, active and having fun. She is determined to change the way children learn by giving them ownership to drive their learning and motivate them using the real PE approach. Tanya’s aim is to enhance, enrich and broaden PE and school sport provision.

Category: National Summer School of the Year 2015

City Heights E-ACT Academy
Friars Academy
St Gregory the Great School
Trowbridge Schools

Category: National Sports Organisation of the Year 2015

Category: National Teacher of the Year 2015

Andrew Rowney, Lower Wortley Primary School
Andrew has shown commitment, passion and enthusiasm to embed the real PE scheme in his school by supporting all teaching staff. He demonstrates excellent teaching practice. The positive learning environment created by Andrew within the school is having a positive impact with all children enabling a wide range of participation opportunities, which are always taken up by the children.

Angela Noyce, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
Through Angela’s inspirational leadership and implementation of real PE, she is delivering outstanding results with Foundation stage children. real PE has inspired her teaching, up-skilled her delivery of fundamentals and enriched the physical fluency of her class. Angela should be commended for her creation of clear learning pathways, shared challenges and most significantly, the sowing of early seeds of lifelong participation and enjoyment in sport for EVERY child. Ben Crook says ”I have been moved, inspired and ‘converted’ by the work undertaken by Angela. I am also very proud of her continued professional development and leadership having mentored her in her early years! The sorcerer is outshone by the Pirate (hopefully on an adventure!)”

Anne Davies, Lings Primary School
Anne is part of a passionate team at Lings Primary School, which enables their learners to take increasing responsibility for their own learning. Sport changes lives at Lings and together with Headteacher, Leigh Wolmarans, Anne helps drive the real PE approach within the school to develop the whole child.

Carla Wallington, St Michael’s CE Primary School
Carla has told us that staff have seen the benefits and the confidence real PE gives children, and have realised that the teaching doesn’t have to be restricted to PE. As the PE coordinator, Carla has been impressed with how the teachers have applied elements of real PE into their other lessons. One class used an ‘unlocking of levels’ (based on the skill breakdown) in their maths observation, which the Headteacher loved!
Carla said: “I can see how the layout and format of the real PE lesson plans have affected my overall teaching. The children have a clearer picture, of not only the individual lesson, but the learning journey for the term. They can see where they have started and where they need/want to be at the end of the term. The plans comfort teachers with their consistent and reliable formats. What has impressed me most, is the reflection and positive feedback the children have been able to give one another. We have used the ‘roles on the bus’ reflection tool to help us. I am blown away by how reflective and thoughtful the children have been in their peer and group assessments.”

Clare Fielder, Willow Tree Primary School
Claire has embraced the real PE approach since it was introduced to the school last academic year. She has delivered outstanding PE lessons observed by the Headteacher and has also delivered lessons to other EYFS/KS1 staff during Whole school PE insets. The progress made of pupil’s physical skills has been commended by the Headteacher and Claire has also delivered PE lessons to her class while visitors from neighbouring boroughs have attended in order to demonstrate the strengths of the programme which has supported other schools to engage real PE.

Flo Head, Abington Vale Primary School
Flo attended the first ever real PE course in the county and since then her enthusiasm and passion helps develop PE not only in her school but has an impact on other teachers learning across other schools. Flo is unique as not only has she improved her own PE delivery but she has shown evidence that she is an outstanding practitioner as she has impacted on teachers and children across the whole school and the wider community!

Hayley Hunt, Falconer’s Hill Infant School
Hayley has enthusiastically led the school through great development in the teaching of PE. When real PE was introduced it was a very different way of working for staff and some were understandably hesitant and nervous. Hayley attended the training initially and encouraged and supported staff as they became accustomed to its implementation. She is now, not only delivering outstanding PE lessons herself and acting in an advice capacity but, continuing to move the school forward. This has involved developing assessment materials to compliment real PE and home learning challenges for the school. Hayley has begun to deliver Family FUNS in the school as an after school club. She is always highly supportive of all staff, very approachable and has an infectious sense of fun that permeates all her interactions with her colleagues.

Jane Taylor, Mattishall Primary School
Jane attended the first cohort of the real PE in Norfolk and truly embraced the ethos of the new approach to teaching PE in her school. She pushed it hard across the school leading to the school creating a separate inset day to get all staff trained. Jane has fully embraced the impact the approach can, and is having with her pupils. She has improved the teaching environment by creating a Create Development/real PE wall to support learning and to positively impact development within real PE lessons. She has acted as an excellent advocate of real PE with other schools/PE leaders. Following Jane’s drive the whole school teaching of real PE has dramatically improved perceptions about PE and enjoyment of the subject.

Lucie Hibberd, Rainbow Forge Primary School
Lucie really impressed us all on Day 2 of real PE when she began describing the amount and level of assessment she was achieving with her Year 1 class. She proceeded to produce high quality photos and descriptions of children working together, achieving new things and loving real PE.

Matt Alford, Shirley Warren Primary and Nursery School
Matt has engaged the whole school in real PE. He has used his innovative skills to excite all children to take responsibility for their own learning through PE. His use of ICT, producing photographic and video evidence of children’s learning are top quality. His team also teach in other schools that are trying to embed real PE across their schools. Shirley Warren’s PE subject Leader said:
“At Shirley Warren we are extremely proud that Matt has been nominated for this award. Matt has embraced the real PE scheme because so many of the values are aligned to his own. At Shirley Warren he has always looked to develop the ‘whole child’ and clearly looks to foster the physical, psychological and social development of all our pupils.

Matt has been able to reach out to children with challenging behaviour, enabling them to develop sportsmanship, praise of others and taking ownership of their own learning. Matt’s passion and belief in what he is delivering is infectious and rubs off on our pupils. The pupils show enthusiasm and enjoyment, responding extremely positively to Matt’s outstanding delivery. Matt has utilised the resources in a creative and innovative way, to develop his own particular delivery and forms of assessment. The pupils are often quoting the real PE terminology in class, the practical understanding of these terms, has a positive transferable effect on the lives and learning of our pupils. Matt always goes above and beyond, organising and delivering a wide range of extra-curricular activities, employing the philosophy he has embedded in our PE curriculum of developing the whole child. Whatever the outcome of this nomination, we are very fortunate to have Matt at Shirley Warren Primary and value the positive impact he has on our school community.”

Neil Crosbie, Wood End Academy
Neil has led outstanding PE lessons using the real PE approach since attending the first real PE CPD session this academic year. He has embraced the key philosophies of the programme and has supported real PE to be embedded at the heart of the school, to not just accelerate learning in PE, but also the development of the whole child through focusing on key learning behaviours. Alongside the PE Coordinator Neil has also developed Assessment for Learning strategies, which have been adopted across all classes and more recently delivered an outstanding session at real PE CPD Day 3.

Sara White, St John’s Primary School
Sara is a superb teacher of real PE who has totally embraced its ideas and concepts, to fully integrate the programme across the curriculum at Penistone St John’s. Since attending the real PE training she has used the teaching and assessment ideas extensively with her class and has been able to pass on her experiences to support other colleagues by sharing the practical ideas. In addition to this support, Sara has arranged for colleagues to be supported by a Team Activ specialist to ensure they are confident in the delivery of real PE and able to maximise its potential benefits and raise pupil attainment. Sara has also lead several demonstrations of real PE during our professional development courses, which has enabled colleagues from other schools to gain a clear understanding of the effectiveness of the programme and how it ensures outstanding pupil progress.

Vicky Adkin, Charlotte Sharman Primary School
Vicky is a young, passionate and committed teacher. She loves PE and because of this she is continually making a difference in a challenging central London primary school. Her display boards are out of this world – encouraging interaction with each pupil and a deeper understanding of how individual and peer assessment. Her lessons are exceptional and she has embraced real PE both within the subject but also as a part of her classroom teaching. Vicky is a shining example of a young vibrant teacher who will go far in her professional career.

We’re very excited to be holding our first Create Development National Awards presentation this year on the Wednesday, 13th May.

The Create Development National Awards recognises and celebrates teachers, schools and institutions who do exceptional work and make a real impact on the lives of children. Choosing winners from the thousands of amazing teachers, coaches, schools and organisations that we work with is going to be one of our most difficult challenges!

Our chosen charity for this event is Challenge Aid whose aim is to take children out of poverty through ‘Schools of Hope’.

We’re looking forward to congratulating all the winners and those nominated.

Watch this space for a list of nominees, winners and of course photographs of the amazing event too.

Congratulations to Charlotte Sharman Primary School who are the winners of this year’s real PE wall display competition.

We received so many amazing entries making it difficult to choose a winner. After much deliberation we decided that Charlotte Sharman Primary School’s addition of a pupil stadium, showing images of children at the school, supporting them to own their PE and learning gave them the edge. What a great idea. They have won £200 Create vouchers to spend on our resources and courses.

A chance to win £200 Create vouchers to spend on our resources and programmes.

We’re really excited about the buzz that real PE is creating and have been receiving so many fantastic photos of the real PE wall displays in your schools. We would like to offer a prize for the best one. For your chance to win simply:

email your image to info@createdevelopment.co.uk using the subject name real PE competition

or

tweet your picture adding @Create_Dev and #realPE to your message

The closing date for entries is Thursday, 12th February. The winner will be chosen by a panel here at Create and will be notified asap.

We’ve given Family FUNS a creative overhaul! An amazing new look, exciting resources and innovative training and support.

It’s a fact that active, healthy children achieve more. Family FUNS helps families play and learn together whilst supporting children to develop the physical literacy, emotional and thinking skills to achieve in PE, school and life.

We’re looking forward to launching the pilot this week in Northamptonshire. Watch this space for more news and impact.

Click here to find out how we can work together to promote positive parenting habits to develop essential learning behaviours.

Over 5000 teachers and 2000 schools worldwide have already participated in Create’s ‘real PE’ programme making it the No. 1 choice of curriculum for Primary schools. That’s likely to have an impact for over a quarter of a million pupils.

Create Development will be delivering the ‘real PE’ approach to teachers of primary and secondary schools in Singapore on:

Date: 28th February and 1st March 2015Location: Tanglin Trust School, 95 Portsdown Road, Singapore, 139299Price: £485 per individual or £985 per school (to include training for up to 3 staff)Includes: Training programme and supporting resources (see attachment for details)

Click here to download the full details and to book your place contact Lisa Cannell at CPD@tts.edu.sg